J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1836-47 Modern painter > Venice, Austria and Southern Germany ... > Venice and Botzen Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Venetian Rowing Boat with Figures; the Spire of the Campanile of San Marco (St Mark's) 1840

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Venetian Rowing Boat with Figures; the Spire of the Campanile of San Marco (St Mark's)’ 1840
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 5 Verso:
A Venetian Rowing Boat with Figures; the Spire of the Campanile of San Marco (St Mark’s) 1840
D31800
Turner Bequest CCCXIII 5a
Pencil on cream wove paper, 105 x 173 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the page turned horizontally, at the right is a quick study of a passing rowing boat or boats with a figure standing at one end; its head is carried over the irregular upper (outer) edge onto the middle of the unrelated Venice view on folio 4 verso (D32798), showing that the torn or malformed leaf was in its current state when Turner used it (see the technical notes below).
At the bottom centre is a brief continuation upwards from the view from the Bacino along the Molo to the Piazzetta on folio 6 recto opposite (D31801), showing the spire of the campanile of San Marco (St Mark’s) with prominent horizontal bands indicating the extensive scaffolding in place during Turner’s visits, as seen in numerous other drawings linked to this tour (see the overall Introduction).1
1
See also George 1971, p.86
Technical notes:
Regarded horizontally, this leaf measures 105 x 173 mm, rather than the full 123 x 173 mm of other pages in this sketchbook. The irregular curve of the upper (outer) edge results in its measuring 105 mm down the left-hand side, and only 73 mm on the right.
The missing section may have been torn away at an early stage, or the edge of the original sheet as bound may have been irregular through a production fault; as noted above, the drawing is carried a little way across the preceding page, folio 4 verso (D31798).

Matthew Imms
September 2018

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘A Venetian Rowing Boat with Figures; the Spire of the Campanile of San Marco (St Mark’s) 1840 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2018, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2019, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-a-venetian-rowing-boat-with-figures-the-spire-of-the-r1196694, accessed 17 July 2024.